Let the Bible speak!
The explicit before the implicit,
Inductive before deductive
The facts before we interpret.
The dominant thing in the church
Is that of the denomination,
That’s where most believers began:
Within their congregation.
For the most part, top-down
Rather than bottom-up,
And for the rest of their converted life
They sip the denomination cup.
Nothing's wrong with denomination
Unless it becomes a bar:
A bar that sets one’s limitation
And becomes that believer’s star.
Our North star is the Bible:
The infallible Word of God
And all else that obfuscate God’s Word
Is a companion to the king fraud.
Our adversary, the deceiver,
Is more fraudulent than any
And by his alluring and deceptive ways
He imprisons many.
Let us therefore contextualized
The title of this poetic piece,
Bearing in mind as we examine it
Denomination must decrease.
Revelation 1:7
Behold, he cometh with clouds;
and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen.
“John to the seven churches”
It says this in verse 4,
And in verse 7, “he cometh with clouds”
But stay with me, there is more.
This is not the first reference
Re a coming involving clouds,
There is another in the Old Testament
Let’s go there and browse.
Daniel 7:13-14
I saw in the night visions,
and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,
and came to the Ancient of days,
and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion,
and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
This is not the old Jewish covenant
But the fulfilment of the same
For it was in that same 1st Century
God sent the Spirit in Jesus’ name.
Jesus, in Matthew chapter 24,
Prophesied to his coming in the clouds
And the indicators that he meant that generation
Were particularly loud.
The word generation as used in Matthew
Bears this out supremely,
Yes, in reference to the Pharisees and Sadducees
And all that followed them blindly.
All that abused the old covenant law
And appealed to their own agenda,
And them that crucified the Lord Christ
Referring to him as a blasphemer.
All in their pseudo love for Caesar
Since any was better than the Christ,
Ignorant that they were fulfilling prophecy
For he was God’s determinate sacrifice.
And hence, the reason for this title:
And they also which pierced him:
A reference to that present generation
And not to one to which it is dim.
A factual and historic fulfilment
Of a prophecy that came to pass
During the lifetime of some of those enquirers
That stood in Jesus’ prophetic class.
Some argue it was the Romans
That pierced the Lord Jesus Christ
But the Jews had demanded his crucifixion;
Any executioner would suffice.
It was the harlot astride the beast
As identified in the Revelation:
Jerusalem riding on Rome’s authority
To effect their Messiah’s crucifixion.
And no doubt, in AD 70,
As God’s judgment rained on Jerusalem,
Much of what was prophesied
Would have been clear to them.
And they also which pierced him,
Not who will witness his second advent
But of that generation that were still alive
That experienced God’s judgement.
“Crucify him! Crucify him!”
“We have no king but Caesar!”
“His blood be upon us and our children!”
The Jews were Christ’s executioners.
“And they also which pierced him”
Not the Romans, but the Jews,
They, along with the 1st Century Christians,
Had that experiential view.
Thus, showing that this prophecy
Came to pass exactly as prophesied,
And that Bible prophecy forms history
And the future must comply.
Stewart Russell © June 21, 2022
